Railroad passenger car



OC- 7, 1941- s.- v. FULLAWAY RAILROAD PASSENGER CAR Filed lMarch 2, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet l runaway, INVENTOR l BY/HW l .i ,mwvw L ATTORNEY.

Oct, 7, 1941. s v. FULLAWAY 2,257,946

RAILROAD PASSENGER GAR Filed March 2, 1939 4 Sheets-*Sheet 2 ATTORNEY.

Oct. 7, 1941, s. v. FULLAWAY RAILROAD PASSENGER CAR 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 2, 1939 ATTORNEY.

Oct. 7, 1941. s. v. FULLAWAY 2,257,946

RAILROAD PASSENGER CAR A Filed March 2, 1959 4 sheets-sheet 4 fl'gJi.

y fu away INVENTOR ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 7, 1941 UNITED 4STATES PATENT OFFICE RAILROAD PASSENGER. CAR Samuel V. Fullaway, Omaha, Nebr. Application March 2, 1939, serial no. 259,334

Y 4 Claims. (o1. 10s-34o) This invention relates to a railroad passenger car, and specifically has reference to the use of two iloors, so that there will be a lesser wear to track rails by the advantage of a lesser length for a train, and generally to avoid undue vibration and friction and a saving in the expense of power.

The invention broadly includes such an arrangement of parts for the car-body that both oors may be provided with areas for all usual accommodations of passenger travel, together with entrances, exits and passageways.

While the invention includes, broadly, a railroad passenger car having a main lower iioor continuous at a uniform level from its vfront to its rear end, and an upper oor disposed parallel relative to the lower oor provided with channels, no attempt is made to place any limitation on the use of the several areas or platforms which the oors provide. However, to illustrate utility of the invention, the areas provided by these floors may be equipped and used for various purposes as will be suggested herein, and shown in the accompanying drawings;

The invention consists of the new and useful construction, combination and arrangement of parts as described herein andjclaimed, and as illustrated in the drawings, it beingunderstood that changes may be madein size, form, proportions and minor details, said changesbeing within the scope of the invention as claimed.

In the drawings, Fig. l is a view of a railroad passenger car in side elevation. Fig. 2 is atransverse section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 -is a plan view showing a part of the upper floor, being a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. 4

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectionon line 4-4 of Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a plan view showing a part of the upper floor, being a section on line 5 5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a plan View showing a part of the upper floor, being a section on line 6--6 of Fig. 10.

Fig. '7 is a plan view showing apart of the lower floor, being a section on line I-l of Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a plan view showing a part of the lower floor, being a section on line 8-8 of Fig. 1.-

Fig. 9 is a sectional plan View on'a reduced scale, showing the use of seats disposed in staggered relation to occupy a part of the vlower floor.

Fig. 10 is a view in transverse section on line I-I of Fig. 1. Fig. 11 is a plan view of a part of the lower floor, being-a section on line II-I I of Fig. 10, and Fig. 12 is a sectional plan view showing chairs arranged for a part vof the upper floor shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings for amore particular description, the invention is described in connection with a railroad passenger car I3 shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, said car being vprovided with a main floor I4 extending continuously at a uniform level from its front to its rear end, the car-body at'one or lboth ends being provided, as usual, on saidloor level with service accessories, such as entrance and exit space platforms I5 wash rooms I6 and toilet rooms I'I, best shown in Figs. 7 and 8 of the drawings, and the particular arrangement of accessories mentioned is not important, and may be changed.

Since railroad passenger cars of modern construction are air-conditioned and thoroughly ventilated, it would appear that the present invention for two floors could be used to great advantage. It is obvious that passageways of standing height must be provided for movements through the car, and while itis true that certain parts of the floor levels beneath the ceilings do not Vprovide standing heights these areas are equally useful for the reason that passengers generally occupy seats or chairs or sleeping-berths while the train is moving, and these spaces are preferably designated as areas of head-room height, and if these areas are equipped with seats, chairs, dining-tables or sleeping-berths they couldbe used as conveniently as floor-areas of standing height, the advantage, as mentioned, being that two floors are employed.

vIt should be explained that proportions and weight of material for the car shown in Fig. 1 have been considered so that the center of gravity will be disposed suiiiciently low to insure safety when moving at high speeds. Also it will be appreciated, according to the present arrangement, that the windows provide light for the upper as well as lower parts of the car.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, I provide an upper oor-level I8, an elevated upper floor-level I9 and an intermediate floor-portion 20 at the junction of said iioor-levels, said elements I8, I9 and 20 forming, for apart or section of the car I3, an upper floor disposed parallel with the lower floor I4. Since the floor-portion I8, relative to the side walls of the car, is disposed lower than the elevated floor I9, it is of channeled formation and is designated as a channel, and it provides the bottom of a passageway 2I for said upper floor. These Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate functional use of a sectional part of the upper Vfloor for dining room purposes, for instance, numerals 22 indicate floor-extensions of the same levels as the floor I9 and extending to the passageway 2|; and at 23 are indicated steps arranged between the extensions 22 which lead to the elevated floor-level I9 from said passageway 2|. As thus described, the floor I9 and its extensions 22 provide ample room for seatings on three sides of dining tables (not shown), and this arrangement provides conveniences for waiter services and affords a degree of privacy for diners from persons moving along the side passageway.

As shown in Fig. 2, the upper floor levels I8 and I9 provide a central passageway 24 of standing height for the lower floor and also provides areas 25 and 26 at the sides of said passageway and these side areas may be suitably equipped for any required passenger services, the wallheights for the areas 24 and 25 corresponding approximately to the wall-height of the passageway 2| of the upper iloor and the wall-height of the area 2S of the lower floor corresponding approximately to the wall-height of the floor level I3 of the upper iloor.

Referring to Figs. 4, and 12 or the drawings, the upper floor which is parallel with a lower :il-oor Ifl, includes a staged passageway 2 of standing height disposed midway between two licor-levels 28 of head-room heights. This passageway 2l, in fact, is a depressed floor portion of channel-like shape, forming a junction of the floor-levels 28, steps 30 being provided leading from the bottom of the channel to the floorlevels 28.

It will be appreciated that the areas provided by the upper iloor-levels 28 may be suitably equipped for various uses of passengers, such as seats, sleeping, chairs, recreation or observation, and these areas provide a desired degree of privacy for occupants since movements of persons in the passageway will be along a lower level than the levels provided by said iioors 28. As shown in Fig. 12, the floors 28 are provided with swingable chairs 3| and used as an observation section to advantage.

By referring to Fig, 4 of the drawings it will be seen that the lower floor I4 of this section provides two side passageways 32 equi-distant from the medial line :I: of the car-body and a pair of areas 33 will be provided of equal areas inwardly of said areas 32.

'Ihe arrangement for this lower floor, which provides standing height, may be used for many purposes, one purpose being illustrated in Fig. 9 of the drawings which shows swingably mounted chairs 34 disposed in staggered relation.

Referring to Figs. and 6 of the drawings, the upper floor of another section of the car consists of a Iloor-level I8 and iloor-level I9' and an intermediate iloor-portion 2G forming a junction of the floor-levels I 8 and I9', this construction being of modified form since the portion 20', for this section of the car, extends transversely a further distance and forms a transverse extension for the iloor-level I8', and this slight change adds a material advantage in the arrangement of certain parts to be described.

In connection with Fig. 10, it should be eX- plained that the arrangement for the lower iloor I4 for compartments is illustrated in Fig. 11, and the arrangement of parts of the upper floor for compartments is illustrated in Fig. 6. Relative to these arrangements, the lower floor I4 is provided with a passageway 35 at one side of the section, and by means of a partition 36 this passageway is separated from compartments 31 subject to the use of doors 38.

Relative to the upper floor shown in Figs. 10 and 6, the side passageway 2| is shown, and by means of a partition 40 the compartments 4| are separated from the passageway subject to the control of doors 42. Numerals 42 indicate guard-rails which separate the elevated floors of the compartments 4I from the floor-level 2G', and as described, each compartment 4|' consists of an elevated part at one side of a guard-rail 42 and a oor area a having a floor-level conforming to the licor-level of the passageway 2|, and numerals 43 indicate steps leading from the areas a to the elevated floors of the compartments.

According to the arrangements last described it will be seen that the compartments for the upper and lower floors of a section are provided with both standing and head room heights, and all of the compartments have access to passageways of standing height.

As shown in Fig. 7, a passageway or series of steps 44 lead from the lower floor of the car to the central staged passageways 21 (Figs. 4, 5, 12) of the upper floor, and as shown in Fig. 8, a series of steps or passageway 45 leads from the lower floor to a side passageway 2| (Figs. 2, 3, 6, 10).

Since the lower floor of the car-body has a uniform level for its entire length, the ceiling above the lower floor is depressed so that passageways of standing height will be provided for the upper iloor, and likewise, the lower iloor is provided with standing height by elevating parts of the upper floor. However, in all instances, all of the areas of both floors are adapted for the use of railroad travel, and these areas may be equipped in any manner suitable for the various conveniences and comforts required for the purposes described.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a railroad passenger car, a car body having a floor extending at a uniform width and level throughout its entire length, a second iioor disposed parallel with and above the first named floor, said second iloor being provided longitudinally, for a part of its length, at one of its sides with a channel to form an elevated floor-portion with steps arranged in series at longitudinal intervals leading to the bottom of the channel, a partition on the bottom of the channel and longitudinally thereof to provide a passageway and providing a depressed area opening on the elevated floor-portion and a plurality of cross-partitions extending from the rst named partition and traversing said elevated floor portion to provide a plurality of compartments.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 and in addition thereto, said passageway being in communication with steps leading to the rst named iioor of said car body.

3. In a railroad passenger car, a car body having a lower floor extending at a uniform level from its front to its rear end, a portion of said car body having an upper floor disposed parallel with the lower oor and formed to define a rectangular elevated portion and a rectangular depressed portion at a margin and parallel with said elevated floor portion, aligning rail-members on the elevated oor-portion at and parallel with a margin of the depressed floor-portion, a partition on the depressed hoor-portion providing a passageway and providing areas for corridors between the partition and said aligning floor disposed parallel with the lower floor and 10 including an elevated portion and a depressed portion, a plurality of stairways disposed in alignment and in spaced relation and leading transversely of the car body from the depressed to the elevated oor portion, said elevated oor portion having rectangular extensions disposed between relatively adjacent stairways and overhanging parts of said depressed iloor portion.

SAMUEL V. FULLAWAY. 

